With the Marquis taking the lead, the banquet turned into an Arican-style party. No one was eating or drinking blood anymore, they were just taking drugs. The atmosphere at this banquet was more intense than ever before.
The vast majority of vampires were taking the dicine in private, and the few vampires who didn't take drugs were also persuaded by other vampires to give it a try.
During this ti, soone even tried to persuade Gwen to try a little, but she refused them all.
Since there was no more useful information to be gathered here, Gwen left. It was nightti now, the ti when everyone sleeps.
...
"Master ntor, can you tell a story?"
At night, Lilith lay next to Loren, hugging his arm.
"Sure, what story do you want to hear?"
"This one."
Lilith handed the fairytale book by the bedside to Loren. On the title of one story in the fairytale book, Lilith had written "The Most Interesting Story."
"Haven't you already read this?"
"I forget it every ti after I read it..."
"Alright."
Loren didn't say anything more and opened the storybook.
Reading the sa story yourself and having soone else tell it are two completely different concepts.
This story was the most famous one in this world: a wicked queen who murdered her own siblings to ascend the throne, disregarded the safety of her people, obsessed with seeking immortality, was ultimately overthrown by a righteous knight, and shouted that she wanted to eat dessert just before she died.
"Once upon a ti... what was that noise?"
Loren had just started telling the story when he felt sothing suddenly burrow under the covers, followed imdiately by Anna's little head popping out from within.
"I want to hear a story too!"
Faced with Anna's request, Loren didn't respond imdiately. Instead, he asked Anna a question in return:
"Where's your pajamas?"
"It's more comfortable to sleep like this when I'm with you."
Anna hugged Loren's other arm, pressing her body tightly against him. Loren could feel a certain softness.
"Like this?"
These words were heard by Lilith on the other side, who imdiately started lifting her own clothes, but Loren stopped her in ti:
"That's not necessary, this is just Anna's little quirk..."
When Loren wasn't around, Lilith often spent ti with Anna, and there was a bit of a trend of her being corrupted by Anna.
Anna was very keen on acting as his wingman, sothing even Loren had noticed.
While Loren was telling the story, Lilith appeared very well-behaved and attentive. She would be moved by the plight of the characters in the story, get angry when she heard the queen killed her siblings, beco tense when she heard the knight was ambushed, and show a genuine smile when she heard the queen was slain by the knight.
Lilith's capacity for empathy was very strong. She had always lived in the Uridia Kingdom, yet she could still see the suffering of the Uridian people. This was different from others.
A necromancer was talking to a vampire. The vampire said, "I killed three people."
The necromancer laughed and replied, "How many people did you kill yesterday?"
Hearing this, the vampire was shocked: "If you kill that many people, can you even eat them all?"
Now it was the necromancer's turn to be dumbfounded. He defended himself, saying, "They can be used for refining artifacts..."
These words made the vampire suddenly understand: "I forgot they were also people."
This is how the Uridia Kingdom is now. True cruelty isn't about how terrifying the thods are, but about not even being aware of the cruelty itself.
So many people die on the roadside every day, and passersby don't even give them a glance. Only so foreign tourists might express a bit of sympathy. The subsequent result is either gradually becoming numb or becoming a victim themselves.
After the story was finished, Lilith fell into a deep sleep. At this point, Anna, however, beca increasingly excited:
"Master ntor, the child is asleep, we..."
Loren promptly tapped her on the head, silencing Anna. He didn't know where such a small child got so many ssy ideas in her head.
"Goodnight."
The nights in the Uridia Kingdom were still a bit cold. Loren pulled the quilt up a little higher, turned his back to Anna, and Lilith's peaceful sleeping face was right before his eyes. Loren could feel her breath.
"Goodnight, Master ntor."
Anna simply hugged Loren from behind, pressing her face against him.
The night passed without incident.
...
"It's done."
After several days of research, Loren finally developed the sunscreen.
If Aisaco were to research it, it would only be faster, as Loren's specialty was researching magic. This thing was a bit of a challenge for Loren, but fortunately, he succeeded in the end.
Loren put the sa sunscreen into three different containers, dividing them into a low-grade version, a standard version, and a premium version. The contents were exactly the sa, only the packaging and capacity differed. In fact, the more premium the version, the smaller the capacity.
But Loren knew that, given the vampires' nature, they would only buy the premium version.
"I'm going out for a bit, I'll be right back."
The next step was to discuss cooperation with the vampires. Loren researched the sunscreen with the idea of scamming the vampires out of a sum of money, but Loren couldn't be bothered to manage so much. He could just hand the whole matter over to the vampires.
He would apply for the patent and just wait to collect the money.
The vampires would definitely think about skimming so money from Loren, but they certainly wouldn't escape Loren's notice. At worst, Loren could still use a contract.
Those high-ranking vampires were elusive, appearing and disappearing mysteriously. It wasn't easy for Loren to find Ofemia, but it was very easy to get a ssage to her.
"Hey, attendant, co here for a mont."
After arriving at the hotel lobby, Loren called out to a completely ordinary-looking attendant. The attendant pointed at himself, looking confused.
"Master ntor, what do you need for?"
"Go tell Ofemia that I've already developed a thod to deal with ultraviolet light."
"How would I know a Bloodline Marquis?"
The attendant now wore an innocent expression, his black eyes lacking any sparkle. In the end, Loren simply grabbed him by the collar and pried out his colored contact lenses.
"Your little disguise can't fool . Now hurry up and go notify Ofemia. I'll be waiting for her in my room."
"Yes..."
With his disguise exposed, the attendant didn't plan to continue the pretense. He acknowledged the order and left.
Loren simply returned to his room and quietly waited for Ofemia to arrive. The vampire hierarchy was strictly defined; lower-ranked vampires had little opportunity to contact higher-ups. The vampire Loren had just found had no noble title, so he had to go find his Baron, the Baron would find a Viscount, the Viscount would find a Count, and the Count could then contact Ofemia.
On one hand, this ensured the credit went to the superior, and on the other hand, it ensured that what the superior did wouldn't be known by even higher levels. This was the complete opposite extre of the Church of the God of Vows and Wind.
Their efficiency was a bit faster than Loren had imagined. In just a few hours, Ofemia arrived, followed by a Count and several maids.
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